Charlotte Green

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For other uses, see Charlotte Green (disambiguation).

Charlotte Green (born 1958) is a British radio announcer and news reader for the BBC's Radio 4. She attended the University of Kent, gaining a first-class degree in English and American Literature, before joining the BBC as a studio manager in the mid-1980s.

Her main programmes are Today programme, PM, the hourly news bulletins and formerly the Shipping Forecast. She reads the amusing newspaper cuttings on The News Quiz. Green's voice is imitated on the BBC radio comedy Dead Ringers with Jan Ravens enunciating phrases, laced with doubles entendres that one would not expect of Green, often in the style of the Shipping Forecast.

She was voted the "Most Attractive Female Voice on National Radio" in a poll by the BBC's Radio Times publication,[1] and is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

From 29 October 2005, she joined Chris Evans' Saturday afternoon show on Radio 2 to read phone numbers and announcements, for the contentment of the male listenership of his show[citation needed]. More seriously, Green has acknowledged the reliance lonely listeners place in her.[2]

[edit] Slips

  • On 24 March 1997 while reading the 8am Today programme news, Green collapsed into giggles after announcing the appointment of Jack Tuat (pronounced "twat") to the Papua New Guinea government.[3] "It's an open secret that I have a ribald sense of humour. I knew immediately that I was going to have trouble getting through the next story, which to compound the problem was about a sperm whale. In the few seconds before the voice piece ended, Sue (Sue MacGregor) repeated sotto voce, almost with a sense of wonderment, "Jack Tuat". I caught her eye and from that moment knew I was lost. My voice rose and dropped like Dame Clara Butt on speed, the laughter broke free and the item about the stranded sperm whale came to a premature end," said Green.[4]
  • On 28 March 2008 while reading the 8:00 am Today programme news, Green was reduced to giggling while announcing the death of screenwriter Abby Mann.[5] The previous news item had included the earliest recording of the human voice (French folksong "Au Clair de la Lune" recorded on 9 April 1860). It was reported by Green's colleague Edward Stourton that her lapse was a consequence of a person in the studio suggesting the recording sounded like a "bee buzzing in a bottle".[6] The incident resulted in considerable public comment, mostly supportive of Green.[7] "I'm afraid I just lost it, I was completely ambushed by the giggles," said Green. Ceri Thomas, the editor of Today, commented: "When Charlotte loses it, she really loses it", and also apologised to Abby Mann's family for his colleague's lapse.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Terry Wogan and Charlotte Green voted most attractive voices on national radio", BBC Press Office 22 January 2002.
  2. ^ Simon Elmes "Meet the disembodied friends of BBC Radio 4", Daily Telegraph, 1 October 2007. Retrieved on 28 March 2008.
  3. ^ Meg Carter "Heard and not seen", The Independent, 31 March 1997 as reproduced on the 'Find Articles' website. Retrieved on 28 March 2008.
  4. ^ "Charlotte Green's diary", The Guardian, 3 March 2004. Retrieved on 28 March 2008.
  5. ^ Old audio causes hilarity
  6. ^ Article by Nick Allen "Radio 4 newsreader floored by serious attack of the giggles". The Daily Telegraph, 29 March 2008, p. 13
  7. ^ Radio 4 news hit by giggling fit BBC News 28 March 2008. Retrieved on 28 March 2008.

[edit] External links